REENCLE VS. MILL

ONE SMART COMPOSTER TO RULE THEM ALL

- BY SEAN DUGAN

Have you been considering a smart composter for your home? Do you want a better way to deal with food waste? I've tested two of the most popular smart composter models, Reencle and Mill.

FACTORS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A SMART COMPOSTER

Your use case may vary a lot depending on whether you live in a New York City apartment or in the Midwest countryside. I live on a quarter acre lot with a large garden in suburban Idaho. I cook quite a bit and produce a good deal of food scraps. I have a four-bay outdoor compost setup built with recycled wooden pallets.

So why did I get interested in smart composters? Making compost isn't rocket science, and already our compost pile produces high-quality compost—otherwise known as “gardener's gold.”

However, our countertop food scrap collector has often been a source of irritation, as it quickly becomes a foul-smelling rot pile if not emptied and rinsed out daily. So, when I started seeing ads for smart composters and learned that you can even put meat scraps in them too, my interest was piqued.

SUSTAINABILITY

When it comes to sustainability, there are several factors to consider.

1 Composting without a smart composter is free. It doesn't take any electricity. All it requires is throwing your food scraps in a pile, with a little thought given to the pile’s carbon and nitrogen composition.

2 Neither of the smart composters I tested produce a product remotely resembling compost. They produce something that makes it easier to deal with food scraps and could be thought of as “pre-compost” that doesn't stink up your kitchen.